


Tinsel and Bettys and Curling Up By the Fire

by Mungo_of_Maundery



Category: Doctor Who (1963), Doctor Who (Season 6B)
Genre: Amnesia, Christmas Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Reunion, but not too much Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-28
Updated: 2016-12-28
Packaged: 2018-09-12 22:58:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9094513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mungo_of_Maundery/pseuds/Mungo_of_Maundery
Summary: Not long after their reunion in season 6B, Jamie's memory is returning slowly. Jamie is concerned about the Doctor. The Doctor is concerned about Jamie. Perhaps Christmas is just the thing for easing post-separation awkwardness...





	

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is a Classic Who Secret Santa gift for tumblr user the--highlanders :)

Jamie wasn’t sure exactly sure how long he’d been back travelling with the Doctor. The TARDIS simulated days and nights, but following a calendar when travelling between times was a pointless occupation Jamie had long since given up, especially since it had to be reset every time they went to a new planet or time, often with an entirely different length of day or year. 

It didn’t help that he remembered very little of his first few days back in the TARDIS, back when memories had flooded his brain with such overwhelming intensity that a few seconds could take an age to pass, but three days could go in the blink of an eye. That first week or so was a blur to Jamie, but the Doctor had been there throughout to reassure him.

Roughly, Jamie estimated it had been a few months. Three, maybe. And things were getting better, Jamie couldn’t deny that. He remembered almost everything now, and the things he didn’t, the Doctor cheerfully reminded him of. They stopped to take a look whenever the TARDIS landed, sometimes getting into scrapes that they barely got out of – Jamie smiled lazily at the recollection of some of their more daring adventures – and things were in many ways back to how they’d been before that whole mess with the Time Lords.

He stretched himself out on his bed and rolled his toes, yawning widely. Yes, they were getting better – but something was still wrong. The Doctor hadn’t seemed quite right for some time now. Jamie wondered whether he should feel guilty: they’d talked a fair bit about Jamie, where he’d been, what he’d seen, his memory, his family, his country. Everything the Doctor had missed while struggling to allow Jamie to return. 

They hadn’t talked much about the Doctor or what he’d seen. What he might have had to do to convince them to allow him to travel again with Jamie. The Doctor had seemed rather down for the past – what, week? Two weeks? Time was a jumble. It was hardly in the Doctor’s character to sulk, and yet he was unusually quiet, and seemed to be taken more with his experiments and books than usual. Jamie couldn’t put his finger on it, but whatever it was, it wasn’t right. Something had to be done. 

Decision made, Jamie swung his legs off the bed and stood.

It took longer to find the Doctor than Jamie had expected. Once he’d checked the three most likely labs, the library, and various other sundry rooms throughout the TARDIS, not wanting to risk getting lost, he decided to poke his head round the door of the main console room. For a moment it didn’t look like anyone was there and he was about to turn and head back down the corridor when he heard a grunt. Jamie frowned.

‘Er, hello?’

There came another grunt, then a clatter. The Doctor’s screwdriver rolled to Jamie’s feet and Jamie grinned. After a couple more seconds, the tousle-haired head of the Doctor emerged from under the console. 

‘Ah, Jamie.’ He straightened up, brushing himself off and wandering over to his companion. ‘Just fixing a few odds and ends, ah…’ the Doctor tailed off, half-turning behind him to gesture at the console. Jamie placed his hands on his hips.

‘Are we going somewhere, or not?’ Jamie asked.

The Doctor raised his eyebrows. ‘I don’t see that there’s such a rush, there are still one or two modifications I’d like to make before we…’ he tailed off again. ‘What?’

‘Something’s wrong,’ Jamie said plainly. ‘I want tae know what it is.’

With a sigh, the Doctor turned back to the console, and appeared to go back to fiddling with it as he said, ‘Nothing’s wrong, Jamie. It’s just that – situations like this are delicate.’

Jamie felt he probably knew what situation the Doctor was referring to, so he said nothing for a moment and moved instead towards the Doctor, close enough to nudge him slightly with his elbow. The Doctor frowned, not looking up. ‘Careful, Jamie. Don’t knock me.’

Jamie rolled his eyes, exasperated. ‘Well I think we should go somewhere. Somewhere we won’t get shot at, or locked up, or – well, anything unpleasant. If ye can get us there, that is.’ He hoped the implied jibe at the Doctor’s piloting abilities might help rouse the Doctor, and after a moment they did.

‘Of course I can, Jamie. I’m perfectly capable of – ’

Jamie’s mouth quirked at the predicted response. ‘-- aye, well. Can we, then? It might do ye good.’

‘Do me – oh well, maybe you’re right.’ The Doctor sidestepped and flicked a switch. 

‘No Cybermen, if ye don’t mind, please Doctor.’

The Doctor paused, nodded then smiled. ‘No, no Cybermen.’

***

When they emerged from the TARDIS, it was to snow and many illuminated trees glimmering through the haze of falling flakes. The Doctor bounced on the balls of his feet, tapping his fingers on the edge of the TARDIS door impatiently. ‘Come on, Jamie, this was your idea, after all.’

‘Aye, coming,’ Jamie mumbled around a pair of gloves. He glanced around at the glittering trees, the fluttering snow and the golden lights behind the windows of the houses. ‘It’s pretty,’ he said. ‘Where do you think we are?’

The Doctor glanced around again, taking his bearings, then smiled broadly. ‘Why, we’re back on Earth!’ He took in the cars rushing by, slowing as they milled through the brown slush on the roads, and added, ‘Twenty-first century I should think. A little after your time, Jamie.’

Jamie snorted. 

‘I’m not sure exactly where we are – somewhere in the north of England, perhaps?’ He leaned in slightly as a couple of bundled up shoppers walked past, then chuckled. ‘Oh yes – Yorkshire. The accent is very distinctive. Do you know, Jamie, I think we’re in York? I haven’t been here since young Guido Fawkes was here. Very bright young lad. Hm.’ The Doctor locked the TARDIS behind him.

‘Oh, aye? I never came down here myself – knew a lass that did, though, an’ she said – hey, wait!’ The Doctor was strolling away absently. Presently, he turned. 

‘Aren’t you coming?’

Jamie grinned and followed. This was a bit more like it.

***  
A brisk, chilly walk quickly out of the Museum Gardens, down Museum road and to Lendal Bridge taught them that it was Christmas Eve. They battled through hordes of last minute shoppers and saved one another from a couple of slips on the ice. Jamie always loved Christmas, the Doctor knew. It was an Earth custom he himself had always been interested in, even back on Gallifrey, so he was happy to indulge his companion in their first Christmas since their reunion. The Minster was lit from inside and icicles clung to Lendal Bridge with its painted crests. The Ouse was high as they leaned over the bridge, but a couple of ducks still managed to paddle their way across. It was too cold to hang around for long, however, so on the Doctor’s suggestion they doubled back and a little later they were thawing themselves out in Betty’s Tea Rooms. Melting snow dripped from the end of the Doctor’s nose and more clung to Jamie’s hair, but it was warm in here, and the tips of their noses were turning pink with the temperature change. Glancing over at Jamie and noticing his appreciative looks the Doctor could tell he approved of the place.

The Doctor was troubled. Jamie’s memory had not returned overnight, and nor had he expected it to. It returned in bits and pieces, fragments that Jamie slotted back into their rightful context with the same practicality and resilience he applied to all the other perplexing and incomprehensible aspects of his life. Over the past few months the Doctor had learned to recognise and cherish the flash of inspiration that crossed Jamie’s face when he remembered something new. It marked the return of something lost, something that should never have been taken in the first place. Such a look was in Jamie’s eyes right now as he observed the Doctor. The Doctor smiled back at him.

‘So,’ Jamie said over cocoa-sprinkled mugs of hot chocolate and a plate of teacakes. ‘What’s the matter?’

The Doctor dipped a spoon delicately into the foam of his hot chocolate, ever evasive. He could practically hear Jamie rolling his eyes. The thought comforted him slightly. That Jamie was much the same as he always had been. Because that, he realised suddenly, was what was wrong. He was worried. Worried that things weren’t going back to how they had been, that Jamie was altered by the things he’d endured both back in Scotland and at the hands of the Time Lords. Perhaps, the Doctor thought, trying to pry a little deeper into his own subconscious, he was even worried that what had been between them, blossoming so perfectly just before they’d been separated, had been crushed by the time and torment that they’d each been subjected to in order to be reunited. 

Jamie poked the Doctor’s free hand tentatively, the one that was resting on a napkin on the table. Jamie’s hands were always warm. The poke was a request, a wordless one. He knew Jamie too well. The Doctor nodded and Jamie’s hand immediately folded over his own. The warmth, too, was reassuring. Jamie was still here.

‘Are ye worried about me?’

The Doctor hoped Jamie wouldn’t be hurt by his lack of faith – humans were so complex and often well-nigh unfathomable. ‘Yes, Jamie,’ he admitted finally. ‘I’m a little worried.’

Jamie dropped his voice and gave the Doctor’s hand a squeeze. ‘Well don’t be. I’m alright, ye ken. I wasn’t at first but I am now.’

‘I’m sure you are. Or you will be. What did you just remember?’

Jamie frowned. ‘Eh?’

‘A moment ago,’ the Doctor gestured vaguely, ‘you had your remembering face on.’

There was silence for a moment as Jamie stared, then he grinned. ‘I’ve got a remembering face?’

‘Certainly you do. I saw it a moment ago.’

Now it was Jamie’s turn to be embarrassed. ‘It wasn’t anything all that exciting. I just – there were a few Christmases, with Ben and Polly and Victoria and Zoe. I was thinking about them. And you.’

‘Oh?’ the Doctor prompted.

‘Just you with yer wee hats and your cocoa and getting yourself covered in tinsel. I remember ye got annoyed with me and Polly for laughing at you, so we covered the console room with it.’

The Doctor’s smile felt less forced by the second. ‘I remember that as well.’

‘Well I’m glad you do. Ye have tae remind me – when I don’t.’

‘Of course, Jamie.’

***

Back in the TARDIS, feeling much warmed by teacakes and hot chocolate, Jamie and the Doctor sat side by side in the library. It had been a unanimous decision between the two of them to continue Christmas, even though such events meant very little to the regulated time-cycles of the TARDIS. After all, until they chose to dematerialise, it was still Christmas outside.

So they were lying on the sofa, fire lit. Jamie had insisted that his feet go on the Doctor’s knees, and had ignored all the Doctor’s half-hearted protests and attempts to push them off. The Doctor was reading again now, but not with the same sullen intensity he had had before, Jamie noted with satisfaction as he fiddled with a sparkly project on his knee, trying to hide it from the Doctor as best he could.

Hearing the rustling, the Doctor murmured, ‘What are you doing?’ as he turned a page delicately.

‘Och, nothing. It’s a wee trifle I’ve thrown together.’ Jamie could scarcely conceal the grin in his voice, and to save having to do it any longer, he sat up and placed the tinsel crown on the Doctor’s head. 

‘Ye look very handsome in that, Doctor.’

The Doctor adjusted the crown slightly so that the light from the fire set it twinkling. ‘Why, thank you, Jamie. Merry Christmas to you, too.’

‘Aye. The first of many more, I should hope.’


End file.
